Starlink Now Has $5/Month “Standby” Mode

[REM]

what do they mean your pause service will be canceled? As in your active again and pay full price? Or your service ends complely? I was seriously considering getting star link due to the ability to pause, but it completely changes everything now.

There were too many accounts in a "paused" status, and the risk of overburdening the system was growing quite large. So going forward, you will still be able to pause the service, but not indefinitely unless you have at least a trickle subscription like the $5 a month plan.

I figured it was eventually coming, but didn't know which solution they would go with. And this one is pretty dang perfect, tbh.

TL;DR - this plan was created to address a looming SLA issue with inactive/standby accounts.

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[BrockN]

what do they mean your pause service will be canceled? As in your active again and pay full price? Or your service ends complely? I was seriously considering getting star link due to the ability to pause, but it completely changes everything now.

Hmmm. I bought the full size home dish a while ago because it was offered super cheap. The plan was - and still is - to use it on our acreage once the house is built (and we have power there!). Should have moved in by now, but things have been delayed. I was willing to pay the monthly fee and use it at our current home, 40 or 45 miles away. But no... they wouldn't let me activate and use it anywhere except where I had specified originally. Something about capacity being determined by where I had specified. Which sounds plausible on the face of it, until you ponder whether 45 miles would actually make a huge difference to what actual satellite is used (and they're everywhere up there, constantly orbiting, so it's a bit of moving target - literally...). I'm calling shenanigans on that...

So I put my account on pause.

If that pause now has to be ended, then I wonder if they're still going to be fussy about where I'm located? Will they let me use it mobile? I don't really want to use it mobile, because it's the earlier system designed for home stationary use. But regardless of the minimal price, I'm still annoyed that they've changed the terms of service on the fly... it's almost like something Tesla would do...

 

[L3it3R]

Hmmm. I bought the full size home dish a while ago because it was offered super cheap. The plan was - and still is - to use it on our acreage once the house is built (and we have power there!). Should have moved in by now, but things have been delayed. I was willing to pay the monthly fee and use it at our current home, 40 or 45 miles away. But no... they wouldn't let me activate and use it anywhere except where I had specified originally. Something about capacity being determined by where I had specified. Which sounds plausible on the face of it, until you ponder whether 45 miles would actually make a huge difference to what actual satellite is used (and they're everywhere up there, constantly orbiting, so it's a bit of moving target - literally...). I'm calling shenanigans on that...

So I put my account on pause.

If that pause now has to be ended, then I wonder if they're still going to be fussy about where I'm located? Will they let me use it mobile? I don't really want to use it mobile, because it's the earlier system designed for home stationary use. But regardless of the minimal price, I'm still annoyed that they've changed the terms of service on the fly... it's almost like something Tesla would do...

It's also possible that paused connection dishes like that could be out of date with software and users could find themselves unable to use them unless connected to a dedicated internet source. So this will allow for Starlink connections to remain on for emergency comms, all for updates to happen, and only $5/month

 

[BrockN]

It's also possible that paused connection dishes like that could be out of date with software and users could find themselves unable to use them unless connected to a dedicated internet source. So this will allow for Starlink connections to remain on for emergency comms, all for updates to happen, and only $5/month

True. But IIRC, it didn't even update itself once it realized my lat/long wasn't what it wanted to see for my account. So it's more likely that I'll be paying a small monthly fee to get absolutely nothing in return. As opposed to today, where I pay nothing and get nothing...

 

[L3it3R]

True. But IIRC, it didn't even update itself once it realized my lat/long wasn't what it wanted to see for my account. So it's more likely that I'll be paying a small monthly fee to get absolutely nothing in return. As opposed to today, where I pay nothing and get nothing...

Well.. at 500kbps unlimited service being always available, that's not 'nothing'. You could monitor IoT devices, etc.

 

[BrockN]

Well.. at 500kbps unlimited service being always available, that's not 'nothing'. You could monitor IoT devices, etc.

Agreed, but only if they let me use it in places other than my 5 acres of forest... where there's no power and not even a shed currently.

 

[XyberTruck1]

Would standby mode be sufficient to run a Ring camera and nest thermostat I wonder?

Pay way too much for internet at a cabin just for that reason in the off-season..

 

[CT_AZ_4x4]

Well.. at 500kbps unlimited service being always available, that's not 'nothing'. You could monitor IoT devices, etc.

I’d bet so!

 

[REM]

It's also possible that paused connection dishes like that could be out of date with software and users could find themselves unable to use them unless connected to a dedicated internet source. So this will allow for Starlink connections to remain on for emergency comms, all for updates to happen, and only $5/month

nah, the updates push from the satellites themselves lol. all you need is a clear view of the sky.

 

[REM]

Would standby mode be sufficient to run a Ring camera and nest thermostat I wonder?

Pay way too much for internet at a cabin just for that reason in the off-season..

You would be much better off building something in the Ubiquiti ecosystem. 500kbps isn't going to be enough for you to stream any video feeds through a cloud video recording service.

 

[L3it3R]

nah, the updates push from the satellites themselves lol. all you need is a clear view of the sky.

I know - but its actually possible for the dishes to be so out of date that they cannot connect to the constellation

 

[REM]

I know - but its actually possible for the dishes to be so out of date that they cannot connect to the constellation

I haven't heard of that. Know any specific cases?

 

[TickTock]

I haven't heard of that. Know any specific cases?

I got this email telling me to plug my device in (I was in standby) and it indicated I may not be able to get future updates if I failed to do so.

 

[TickTock]

I got this email telling me to plug my device in (I was paused in standby) and it indicated I may not be able to get future updates if I failed to do so.

Rather, I meant to say "I was paused"

 

[REM]

I got this email telling me to plug my device in (I was in standby) and it indicated I may not be able to get future updates if I failed to do so.

interesting! seems to only affect a small number of units; I bet it has to do with a very specific modulation firmware version that needed to be phased out.

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